The CJM Blog

T he screening series CLEAT (Cinematic Lo-fi Experiments in Art and Technology) is intended as both a cheeky riff on The CJM's NEAT:   New Experiments in Art and Technology exhibition and an expansion on some of its themes. Like NEAT , CLEAT features work by artists from three different eras, all bringing an active, creative approach to extant special effects technologies to bear on the stories they tell. Stills from The Bat Whispers. Screening on October 29 for CLEAT. Coming at us from 1930, Roland West's fantastic mystery The Bat Whispers (October 29) throws its handmade aspect right into our faces. Its very first shot pans down from a miniaturized clocktower to the busy street below, smash cutting from a tabletop set representing street-level to an actual street, populated with actors and moving vehicles. Even a 1930, post-Melies audience likely saw through the illusion, but it registers as a powerful statement of intent, and we can't help but sign on...

Installation view of  You Know I'm No Good . Photo by Johnna Arnold. Artist Jennie Ottinger recently gave a short gallery chat on her installation  Mouth to Mouth: Pieces from an Animation about Cultural Appropriation —f eatured in The Contemporary Jewish Museum's current exhibition  You Know I'm No Good.  Responding to Amy Winehouse's legacy and music, Ottinger's multi-faceted installation addresses the icon's cultural appropriation of the legacy of female musicians, specifically African American singers.  _________________________________________________________________________________ Jennie Ottinger (JO): As I got the topic, I really didn’t know much about Amy Winehouse—I had been aware of the hits and her personal story, but I didn’t really listen to her music. So I just started Googling, and I came across an article by  Daphne A. Brooks — an African American Studies professor at Yale — about Amy Winehouse and cultural appropriation. It was in ...

The Bureau of Suspended Objects in Jenny Odell's studio at Recology.  Recently, The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) made the trek out to the San Francisco dump (for art’s sake of course). At the  Recology Artist in Residence (AiR) Program , we chatted with artist, archivist, and internet (and now dump) miner  Jenny Odell  about her AiR project— The Bureau of Suspended Objects , the line between utility and trash, and how this experience might influence future projects.  And, in case you’re left wondering what’s next for Odell, she's participating in The CJM's ongoing installation series,   In That Case:  Havruta  in Contemporary Art , collaborating with window dresser Philip Buscemi. _________________________________________________________________________________ The ar(t)chivist's desk. Stephanie Smith (SS):   Tell us about the Recology Artist in Residence Program and the project you’re currently working on. Jenny Od...

Installation photo of  You Know I'm No Good  by Johnna Arnold. The title of this exhibition is taken from a track by the same name on Amy Winehouse’s award-winning album, Back to Black (2006). In response to the intimate look at Winehouse allowed in A Family Portrait , The Museum invited three contemporary artists to display work about the singer. San Francisco artists Jason Jägel and Jennie Ottinger created new works for the exhibition and a selection of drawings by New York artist Rachel Harrison are also on view. Installation photo of  You Know I'm No Good  by Johnna Arnold. Jägel is known for his paintings that combine text and cartoon-like figures to create dreamlike narratives that pull the viewer across the image and back again. He has also created album art for many rap and R&B musicians. For You Know I’m No Good , he created a mural-sized painting for the gallery wall visible from Yerba Buena Lane inspired by Winehouse and her m...